By Caleb Wheeler | Staff Writer
Author and public speaker Darryl Thomas watched his father be killed when he was young. As part of Baylor’s Mental Health Awareness Week, Thomas visited the Baylor Sciences Building on Wednesday to give a public lecture on domestic violence and how to help others in similar situations.
Thomas, who became a Marine as an adult and now writes and talks about his story, said there are three options for dealing with domestic violence.
“If you’re dealing with domestic violence, you’re a victim of domestic violence, you’re a bystander of domestic violence, option one says, ‘Hey, I’m going to pretend nothing’s wrong,’” Thomas said. “Option two says, ‘I’m going to pretend [nothing] is wrong. … I see it, but I think I’m going to just stay right here.’”
Thomas said those options are not the correct way to deal with domestic violence. Rather, he said people need to weaponize the issue and kickstart change by following the three steps of love, leadership and legacy.
“When I talk about love, what you … need to think about is you,” Thomas said. “We can’t exercise leadership and legacy if we don’t have [love in place].”
Thomas said the most important part of love is forgiveness. He said he has forgiven his father’s killer and that forgiveness is what frees him. Thomas encouraged people to make a list of people they have not forgiven and to make the choice to forgive them.
“I truly believe inside of every leader is a solution to a problem,” Thomas said. “If we can help people identify themselves as leaders, then we can start to solve or resolve a lot of issues.”
To solve problems with domestic violence, Thomas said timing is everything. He said people need to recognize when a response is necessary and what that response is.
“[Legacy] has changed my life,” Thomas said. “Now I have to think … how can what I do now benefit others down the road?”
Thomas said to approach this with an empowering mindset while always looking to and trusting God.
“I’m a winner. I’m a leader. I’m the answer. I think walking every day with that mindset is really important,” Pflugerville sophomore Landon Self said.
Thomas said that when you think of yourself as a winner, your mind changes, and you can be a better leader.
“Inside every leader is a solution to a problem, but it’s going to take courage a lot of times to be able to get that solution,” Thomas said.
